A Manchester-based software-as-a-service company has increased its global footprint as a provider of gym management software.
Membr now serves 2,000 locations after securing a significant investment in 2020 from the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF) and Maven Equity Finance, which is managed by Maven and part of NPIF.
With European and Asia Pacific contracts already secured with one of the world’s largest fitness franchisors, Membr used the equity investment from NPIF – Maven Equity Finance to meet a new business opportunity with the same company in Japan.
With Japan being one of the only countries in the world not to close its gyms during the global pandemic, Membr secured a contract to provide over 1,000 of its gyms with its management software.
The investment was also used to make Membr’s platform more robust, feature rich, and available to use in any language. The sustained growth and continual improvement of its software infrastructure to deliver more contracts to gyms across the world also led it to grow its headcount over four years, rising from 40 employees in 2019 to 56 in 2023.
Founded by Jack Malin, CEO of Membr, in 2010, the business was initially launched to help personal trainers manage their clients, payments, and fitness programmes all in one place. With the help of angel investors back in 2014, Membr pivoted to become a cloud based SaaS platform that enabled gym owners, and companies running multiple gyms sites, to manage all of its day-to-day operations in one place.
Now, with the help of the NPIF – Maven investment, Membr partners with gyms in over 20 countries with offices in Manchester, Tokyo, and Florida.
The business now has plans to further expand its footprint, and launch in up to six new countries by 2025. Its next office opening is set to be in Canada.
“Our success has been down to our resilience during a tough, Covid-affected period which adversely impacted our industry,” said Malin. “Despite difficult times, we’ve created a world-leading product which takes the stress away from gym owners, leaving them to get on with the day-to-day activities most important to them.
“Our extraordinary international footprint is testament to the quality of our software and the investment from NPIF – Maven played an important role in expanding our reach.”